#the story has a LOT of unreliable narrators

[rocksibblingsau]

Do you have any writing tips?

I'm still a beginner writer myself and I'm not sure if you mean for technical skill or the writing process but my tips would be:

Don't be afraid of the word said. As tempting as it is to avoid saying it because you feel like it's everywhere, it makes the times you DON'T use it stand out more if you use it a generous amount and honestly I never notice when someone uses 'said' a lot.

Listening to music that fits the scene can help a lot. It's very hard for me to write a sad scene when 'Dance the Night' is playing on Spotify. For Trolls specifically it also helps if the music matches the genre you're portraying.

Have a bit of a framework that you can follow. When I finished Chapter 1 and I realized I wanted to turn this into an actual fic, I paused and thought about where I wanted the fic to go. I thought about plotlines and future events so that here in the past I can set things up well in advance and even foreshadow things.

That being said, keeping it a little loose also helps! I've changed some things and gotten new ideas since starting and it helps to have the space to make those changes!

Inspiration is a huge part of writing for me, and I think that any life experience or piece of media consumed when 10 years old can be used to make a cool story. I've ranged from using actual places I've seen to kids movies I barely remember.

Mixing truth and opinion in narration helps shape the protagonist and shows their perception of reality. You don't want the narration to be unreliable (unless you're aiming for 'unreliable narrating' type of storytelling) but seeing the character notice a small detail and then their thoughts derailing to an assumption tells me a lot about how that character thinks and how they perceive themself.

This is kinda cliche but: write the story you want to write. You will hit writer's block after writer's block and struggle so much if the story you're writing isn't one you would want to read. I get wanting good reception but you should be the first person who would see your story on AO3 or in a book store/library and go 'Oh my god FINALLY someone wrote this'.

It can be good practice to write little ficlets/one shots of the most off the wall random AUs you can think of. The practice can come from anywhere and I feel like the fact I make 1 million AUs in my head has helped me explore a bunch of random ideas and learn more about things I like and dislike in writing. A small idea that I came up with when messing about with an AU that makes 0 sense is actually making it into chapter 16 because I went 'oooh tasty worldbuilding and cute idea'.

I hope this helps, as again I'm very beginner to writing and even more so to posting works for others!

#sibblings qna

[pinkrabit]

Any ship w jiang cheng that ends happily I will immediately enjoy bc I identify so.closely with him

My special guy

#jiang cheng #i also see a bunch of thoughts on how hes JUST a bitter man that complains #like yes #he is #but hes also so much more than that #as someone who has consumed all but the og novel #i dont think certain aspects align with a “bitter #complaining man who was born privelaged“ #and the people that like jc were implied to not understand media literacy #every character in the series had severe faults #as someone who consumed all of the different media pieces but the og novel #so maybe im biased #the story has a LOT of unreliable narrators #and we only see from a watchers pov #we dont hear every person's thoughts consistently #i just hate seeing JC reduced to angry man #you dont keep a servants weapon just because #especially if you didnt care about him even a little bit #you dont risk your life for someone you dont care about #no matter how twisted that care mat be

[avisisisis]

The sun and moon symbolism was used so well in LMK

I love how it wasn't used as a way to tell us about their personalities but instead as a way to reflect their beliefs, their places in the world and how their relationship with it can vary

When you think about sun and moon characters, the first things that comes to mind are "extrovert and introvert", "loud and quiet", "optimistic and realistic (or straight up pessimist)", etc. You think of two labels that are used, to put it simply, as a way to tell us that oh, this character is bright and nice and this other character is quiet and follows them anywhere. And depending on what you think about Shadowpeach, this might suit them! But if we're talking about canon, then it's just... not them

Macaque isn't a shy, timid guy who while he's smart and clever, he doesn't stand up for himself. SWK isn't a happy and cheerful but also dumb guy who tends to be the one to defend Mac when he doesn't do it himself

Here, the sun and moon symbolism is used to explain the nature of their relationship, not their personalities. It's used to give us a simple explanation of why they're that way without showing us a 20 minute backstory scene to make us understand what the fuck happened (though that wouldn't be unwelcome)

The sun shines brightly and gives us its warmth, but in the end, he'll always be alone; no one can get close to her without burning. The moon's brightness comes only from the sun, and she's most noticed when it's night, while the shadows cover the earth

The moon needs the sun to shine, but the sun wouldn't change at all if he wasn't there; Macaque needs SWK to be there for his character to be important. but Sun Wukong's story would have remained almost the same if Macaque had never been his friend. If you want a story where they never knew each other, just read JTTW!

However, while the sun doesn't need the moon at all in real life, these two characters are supposed to be actual people, not a rock and a ball of gas in space. Macaque can be his own person without Sun Wukong being there, and Wukong is strong enough to not need someone fighting by his side but still wants it anyway

They're not soulmates, at least not in the way the wind and the sea are. Sun Wukong's love for Liu'er Mihou isn't a thing destiny wrote. It's not heaven's, not space's, not faith's: it's his. And his love for Macaque is what makes him need him by his side

#idk there's smth about the fates not having written two ppl together in their story but them choosing to be together anyway that haunts me #i think that while swk n mac are a lot like the sun and the moon they're still yk #NOT the sun and the moon #mac might've left behind and swk may be too powerful for common mortals to truly reach him but #mac has (almost) the same power as swk even tho the moon isn't anywhere near to being as bright as the sun #and ig you COULD use it to show how ppl care about the moon as much as they do about the sun but this is about THEM #not abt what other ppl think they are. so it's about the actual sun n moon rather than what they mean to ppl #and #there are some ppl who CAN get close to swk without dying even tho the sun will kill anyone who gets close to it #the way macaque views their relationship is flawed n the way swk views it is #also flawed! #miscommunication and unreliable narrators my beloveds #lmk #lego monkie kid #sun wukong #the six eared macaque #the monkey king #liu'er mihou #swk #shadowpeach #i don't know how to put their relationship into words without it sounding weird #ig that what i'm trying to say is #that they are really important to each other #even if they hadn't needed each other they'd still choose each other #even if they hadn't chosen each other they'd still have needed each other #idk if i'm explaining myself well #the sun and the moon. never touching but always seen together even if they're never by each other's side irl #avis' post

[quaranmine]

firewatch au is an interesting story because mumbo is such an omnipresent non-character. it doesn't matter if i characterize him correctly or not, because his character isn't ever present to exert change in the story. the only thing that does matter is grian's rosy, absence-defined ideals about who his best friend was. every single thing we learn about mumbo is filtered through like 12 different layers of love and grief and denial until he's on a pedestal so high nobody can see the truth. his character is almost solely defined by what someone else says about him.

in doing this, grian also inadvertantly strips away all the little mistakes and mishaps that are part of mumbo's agency and part of him being a real person until he's perfect. and all this idolization ends up making it worse for grian in the end, because he actively avoids engaging in any theories that suggest mumbo might have made a mistake or gone astray. there's clear dissonance between reality—grian knows mumbo got lost and is searching for him—and the way grian lashes out at anyone who suggests something that clashes with the perfect ideal of mumbo in his head, including getting lost. mumbo should be a character in his own story, but grian won't let him be.

instead he wraps his desire to find mumbo into a weird sort of side quest where he's just as interested in finding someone else to blame as he is finding mumbo. he spends the same amount of time trying to figure out exactly where it all went wrong during the search as he does actually searching for mumbo—even after he knows the general area mumbo was last in! it's a puzzle and he can't put anything to rest until he solves it. he's trying to force logic into everything so he can cope with it. because if he doesn't find someone or something to blame, then he has to face the reality that sometimes things just don't make sense. if it makes sense, he can solve it and fix it. if it doesn't make sense...then he just has to live with it, and he doesn't think he can.

#fw au drinking game! take a shot every time grian says something abt Knowing mumbo or makes a bold statement of what mumbo would/wouldnt do #his mindset is so contradictory at certain points. a lot of what he says doesnt make total sense or falls apart under scrutiny. #and that's on purpose! grian is not a reliable narrator in this fic. he's a guy who is Going Through It who needs help. #theres several parts of the fic where he's so logical about things that it loops back into being illogical #cause he's got huge blindspots he can't/won't look around. he selectively excludes things he doesnt want to think about. #this story is more of a study on grief than it is a mystery :( #also dont get me wrong! i am not saying grian is Always incorrect in his characterization of mumbo. they Were besties ofc #it's just that you have to read everything he says about mumbo with the acknowledgement that his grief #has smoothed away every flaw or painfully human bit #and only left a certain limited picture of mumbo left #combine that with his intense desire to only see things that fit within his set beliefs? you've got a recipe for an unreliable narrator #hc_firewatch_au

[chiarrara]

i caught up on jjk. favorite panels in the last few chapters, plus:

thematic catharsis coming around

#jjk manga #jjk spoilers #jjk manga spoilers #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #i really think fushiguro is more of a parallel to geto than he is to gojo #geto saved gojo first but gojo failed to save geto #fushiguro saved itadori first and itadori's going to save fushiguro #it's also propping up my theory that gojo is an unreliable narrator #and most important things he's said in the series are going to be proven wrong #1. love it the most twisted curse of all #it's actually the key #2. you can't save someone who isn't prepared to be saved #you can and he will #those are my thoughts #i don't think the manga has gotten as bad as people are saying it has #but it does have issues #and the style change and quality dip in the illustration is bugging me #and don't think characters being introduced and dying quickly is that bad either #the ones that matter are written well and their deaths are significant and well integrated #the main issues cropping up now are also the issues that have existed for much much longer than post-shibuya #villains motivations make no sense #random battles that don't have thematic significance abrupt the pacing in an annoying way #the magic system isn't always well integrated narratively and thematically #gege has too many ideas and not all of them needed to make it past editing #but a lot of problems are just typical shonen problems that jjk seemed above when the story was a little tighter #also i don't think the magic system is as smart and complicated as people are pretending it is #i don't think it will be hard to adapt in the anime #i think the weaknesses in pacing and the increase in exposition are going to be more exposed in the anime though #and more people will catch on to the basic rules of the magic system being inconsistent or underdeveloped

[giantkillerjack]

Moulin Rouge: a man obsessed with his love for a sex worker is shocked that she would engage in sex work and also somehow misses that the woman he loves has tuberculosis until she literally dies of it.

#original #i actually have a great fondness for the movie and i haven't seen the play i was just thinking about how #the male lead is a lot less appealing than he was when I was younger lol. TBH it's been a while since I saw the film but #there is a chance that the 'Christian is so obsessed with the idea of love he literally has no idea what is going on with his beloved' bit #may be intentional #love! truth! beauty! the bitch is coughing up blood!!!!! #I am pretty sure tuberculosis does not sneak up on you I think it's like a slow obvious painful death these men are just stupid XD #but the color and drama and humor of the film I really like still #also since it is his own writer POV he likely embellished the story so there is an unreliable narrator bit there too

[rocaillefox]

if you are writing fanfic about a story that has Themes and you say something in the exposition thats Directly Against These Themes, well. depending on what youre saying i may keep reading BUT the point is you are on some Thin Ice. (about if i will keep reading)

#ramblings #mar does reading fanfic #spoilers for orv in tags past this #the theme in question is: in orv the universe is a kid's subconscious #it isnt inherently cruel despite the text outright stating that at times; there isnt some secret orchestrator making it bad #and the acceptance of that allows for kindness to be extended even to the being keeping the universe going #kim dokja is an unreliable narrator #and the way the universe is created in terms of the things that are harsh #is at least partially informed by the kid's previous experiences #the whole thing is both a narrative about finding out that bad things happen for no reason (and cruelty is a reason) #and that fiction can help people regardless of the number of readers #plus so many other things but anyways #simplifying it down to 'the universe is cruel' may work if youre still writing from kim dokja's pov #but not necessarily so when writing from Everyone's pov #the term cruel implies intention. which the universe does not have #and in fact in orv specifically if the universe has any intention Especially towards kim dokja it is kindness #if you keep in mind his position as an overpowered mc who chooses his own story repeatedly #which isnt to say he hasnt gone through his own hardships! he Absolutely has and a lot of his choice was taken asay from him #but regardless of choice there are those who tried just as hard as he did and didnt end up with the same result #this kinda derailed . and is also about not Too big of an issue

[oliviasoddessey]

No that thread going around about whether it's voyeuristic to watch sex scenes in films because the characters can't consent absolutely does my head in because that's an atmosphere that filmmakers cultivate!!! Making the viewer aware of the camera, of the fact that they are a third party watching, genuinely interacting with the camera - not just characters breaking the fourth wall, but directors putting thought and intention behind the camera as the audience's viewpoint - that's a thing!! IDK I don't know film but there's probably a word for it. Does the audience feel like a fly on the wall or a participant or a voyeur? Who is the character of the audience in this story? Thinking about whether you have "permission" to be watching whatever is happening on screen, what it means for the action to be viewed, is one of my favourite ways to analyse a story and what I'm about to say is kind of condescending but: you could HAVE that discussion and think about all this in a storytelling context if you actually cared about stories and analysis and digging into the meat of the media you are consuming!! Engage with it as art!!

#is this not what mockumentary literally aspires to #IDK you ever see an interaction between two characters that's so tender you feel you shouldn't be watching? #you feel like you're intruding? #makes me want to rip my heart out #or when someone gets hurt or is humiliated and you feel the need to look away #bc it feels WRONG to bear witness #those are some of the most emotionally effective moments on screen #when I watched the Mandalorian I looked away when the helmet came off bc I was aware of my presence as a viewer #it forces you to take ownership #it forces you to engage with what you're watching and not just be a passive viewer #IDK it feels like the Do We Have The Characters' Consent take #(which I know is actually held by a relative few) #is coming at it from the wrong direction #No!! We don't!! that's what makes it tasty!! #or yes sometimes we do!! that's what makes it tastier!! #unreliable narrators in film are some of my favourites bc in fiction they can conceal the story with words #but in film it has to be a lot more subtle than that #film is not my native language so whenever it happens I find it SO INTERESTING #I don't want to pull the 'none of you want to think critically and that's why you do this' stance which is popular on Tumblr rn #it could be that? it doesn't seem like a refusal to engage with the text #only a refusal to engage with a text on anything other than your terms maybe #Liv has thoughts

[shreksstepfather]

Hands shaking, inches from grabbing Pontus by the neck

I have so much respect for you as a writer and artist, cause this is exactly how you want Pontus to make us feel, but at the same time, I wanna put you in a headlock and give you the noogie to end all noogies cause how dare you like Pontus i am BEGGING YOU to just be normal for 2 seconds

NO NO NO YOU'VE GOT IT ALL WRONG MATE!!!! I don't like her either :)

Writing her is fun though because in every scene I just think "What would be the worst thing someone could do in this situation?"

As for being normal... two seconds? In this economy? Most I can give you is one.

#also THANK YOU for saying you like my writing!!! That means a lot to me :D #anyways here's some thoughts #unreliable narrators my beloved #jaded narrators whose thoughts and perspectives influence the POV my beloved #anti- villains my beloved #oh? what's an anti-villain? #i had to look it up too #apparently: #'an anti-villain is a character who has heroic personality traits or goals but is ultimately the bad guy in this story' #you know how a lot of story are underdog stories? the warren is whatever the opposite of that is #it would've been easier to write this from the perspective of gaia or pluto #but that style of story has been done to death!! #not warrior cats #onion peels #that's... a lot of tags.

[midnightsslut]

i know this has been talked about a lot but i can’t believe taylor put out nineteen songs where she turns herself inside out, reveals all of her trauma to her listener, and ultimately concludes that she found someone who accepts all of her scheming and even appreciates it, before ending an alternate edition of the album with ‘yeah so I’m a liar. I’ve been an unreliable narrator the entire time. you wouldn’t believe any of my stories if you actually knew who I was. I’m actually too broken to understand. i’m all alone and I can’t be helped.’

#dear reader #listening to the album in full through to ylm is crazy #midnights

[70-percent-water]

Something about the Markiplier cinematic universe I think needs to be talked about is the fact that literally 80% of the reason it's so compelling is because it doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's just a story that's an absurdly chaotic mess, and I mean that positively.

Who Killed Markplier is a tragedy at its core, a very well done example of, even if you try to do all the right things, sometimes you still fail, and there's no way to fix what's already been said and done.

'DAMIEN' has hauntingly beautiful scenery, it's an outsiders perspective of an altercation between two unreliable narrators that gives little context to its premise, immersing us in our place as a bystander.

All that being said, it's juxtaposed by;

-The man cast ending up in space with zero explanation.

-Two men getting into a fistfight in a movie theater parking lot in borad daylight in a violently slapstick manner.

-William telling the group he once got sucked into jumanji and nobody even questioning it.

-The viewers very existence being used to play up a series of visual gags with absolutely no context, (Pocket Sand, for example.)

-Darks tendency to pull a 'draw me like one of your French girls' while speaking to us in fucking riddles

-The stunt dummy being kept in after the editing phase

-Literally 90% of the shit Actor does despite being a revenge fueled monster, he wears crocs everywhere like c'mon

-HeeHoo

Honestly I think it's great because it allows you to play with the worldbulding extensively as there's debatably no concrete facts one way or another. I'm writing at the moment and using it to my advantage and will probably post more about that soon.

#markiplier lore #markiplier egos #markiplier #wkm #iswm #ahwm #adwm

[xviruserrorx]

Haha not me disappearing for a while and then seemingly coming back 😅... Anyways I'm trying to get back into doing a wip a week so here is a small one.

This fic takes place in the same universe as my fic "A Life With No Regrets" and pretty much is the story of all that before stuff that's mentioned.

Psssst @heaven-ecologist I think you might enjoy this one (the saga of "What did the angels do to the dinos?" Continues 😁

"That's what you said about the dinosaurs," Gabriel mumbled under his breath.

He shot Gabriel a warning look at his remark.

Raphael cocked an eyebrow. "The dinosaurs?"

"Oh yeah, forgot about those things," Lucifer commented. His reminiscing quickly shifted as his eyebrows furrowed and his hands made their way across his chest. "Wait—What happened to the dinosaurs?"

Michael took a deep sigh. "That is not relevant right now."

And also for a fun treat here is some random paragraphs and bits of dialogue taken from the story and my notes on the story out of of context 😁

"Not just someone. Dear old daddy-o shook up heaven and hell like an ant terrarium; kicked a few of us out of the Nothing."

🌸

Soft lips gently pressed to his chest as Adam undid each button, stripping away the material and leaving his chest bare.

🌸

"And I'm not trying to bone Sam Winchester."

🌸

"Tell me, did Adam take the reins or did you enforce your role as viceroy of heaven?" He waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

🌸

"See how desperate you have me, old man?" He slowly sunk to his knees at the foot of the bed. His head crashed to lay on the back of his hands.

🌸

"My finest work those Winchester's. Wouldn't you three agree?"

"Dad!"

🌸

"You know who was? Michael. Michael was there. Michael cared for us, took care of us. Michael loved us. He was more of a father to us than you could have ever been."

🌸

"Your father is Lucifer?"

"Clark—" Jack tried to step closer but Clark mirrored his steps.

"Don't... Please."

🌸

Gabriel held out his hand as the music continued. "Care to dance little sister?"

🌸

"It's okay, everything's okay," Claire tried to console; but despite her words, Jesse's shoulders continued to tremble under her hands.

This fics name is "By The Riptide" and if you want to be alerted when anymore updates go out on this fic or when I started actually posting the chapters please let me know so I can add you to the taglist!!!

[WIP Sneak Peek Masterlist]

#viruswrites #a wip a week keeps the writer's block monster asleep #the angels are unreliable narrators when it comes to the dinosaurs #gabriel knows something #yes i put in those suggestive bits on purpose #also this fic is pretty much just me mashing all the minor characters i love into one fic #sam and dean have about zero relevance in the plot and i feel like i'm just moving them like prawns for my convenience #pawns not prawns #well sam has more because he interacts with the angels a lot and all of his kids #and by his kids i mean jesse‚ magda etc #sorry dean move aside this story isn't about you #also (again) it is very hard writing in 20+ angels and 20+ other minor characters without giving them a few lines #so i'm writing little 'extra' scenes on the side because these relationships and characters need to be explored more!!! #okay i'm done #By The Riptide #supernatural #fanfic sneak peek #text post

[metanarrates]

there are a LOT of things you can speculate about regarding what twsa was actually like as a novel but what's most interesting to me is that you can make the argument that twsa was an "unpolished" version of what orv is. it's a version of a similar novel that likely dealt with a lot of similar themes but was seemingly bogged down by poor structure, pacing, expository handling, and focus. (all of which are things that orv is shockingly excellent at.)

and of course, han sooyoung's novel, sssss-grade infinite regressor, is the "polished" version of the idea. it's well-written, probably well-plotted, and was successful enough to make han sooyoung rich and famous. we don't know what sssss-grade infinite regressor is like as a novel either, but we sort of get the impression that it's not very emotionally rich even if it is good on a technical level. han sooyoung herself doesn't seem intensely attached to it despite being proud of her work, and kim dokja of course doesn't hold it in high regard. (though of course he's a gigantic unreliable narrator and also a hater.)

what's interesting is that despite orv very strongly emphasizing the ways these works are flawed from the outset, orv itself functions as an argument in these works' favor. both twsa and infinite regressor are stand-ins for the "mass-produced" genre of webnovels. they are popular fiction, relying on a very familiar pool of tropes and clichés in order to deliver on a relatively predictable story to appeal to a wide audience. it's not a coincidence that they are so similar - both literally and in a meta sense, they are drawing on the same exact story-building and genre material. twsa is just the unsuccessful version, and infinite regressor is the successful one.

orv is what I would consider the most "impressive" version of the genre. it's well-structured, thrillingly plotted, interestingly written, has fascinating ideas and characters, and is even "literary" - that is, it has deeply considered themes and is often drawing from the realm of literary, postmodern fiction in order to express its ideas. a less sincere story would disavow itself from its pop-fiction origins and claim to be the best version of its genre. nothing else could be like it, so the worst versions of its genre wouldn't be worth considering.

but orv, while technically functioning as an argument that the genre can be "good" simply because it's a great novel that is deeply rooted in its genre, goes much further. it argues in-text that any sort of story, even those that are bad on a technical level or those that were somewhat cynically produced for a mass audience, are worth finding value in, simply because stories have meaning to their readers. the most uncritical reproduction of a genre's conventions can still mean something to someone who likes it. twsa, if it existed in our reality, would still probably be considered a very bad novel, but it wouldn't need to be polished up and turned into infinite regressor or orv in order to have value. orv itself is telling you that you should find value in twsa as it is, and by extension, every badly-done work of fiction that twsa could be a stand-in for!

#narrates #orv #all of this is Fascinating for in-universe texts to have as relationships to the actual text btw #scratching at the walls like I KNOW ITS THE POINT THAT WE CANT READ THEM... BUT I WANNA READ TWSA AND INFINITE REGRESSOR...

[messiahzzz]

i have been thinking a lot about mystra’s relationship with gale, how reducing her to “his ex” really is an understatement. she was and still is so much more than that. moreover, using the term “ex-girlfriend” in relation to her plainly feels wrong and diminishes the influence she has over him, as well as the role she played in his life since his childhood (and it also trivializes the abuse he suffered through her).

there are several instances where gale gets defensive when his companions mention or ask him abt mystra. he claims that their relationship was no less real even though most of their interactions were incorporeal.

we have already established that gale is an unreliable narrator in this particular case, still not having fully come to terms with the fact that he was groomed, manipulated and abused. he ping-pongs between bouts of realization (even in his romance), gaining clarity that he was merely used and eventually discarded and that mystra never truly cared for him, back to making light of his situation, idealizing her once again. realizing the extent of his trauma, that he is indeed a victim in this scenario, unlearning what he has been made to believe from a young age is a slow and painful journey. he is in the process of healing, but it takes time. time he deserves just like anyone else.

which makes me wonder what their relationship really looked like, once the lines between teacher, muse, and lover began to blur. i also feel like one of the reasons why part of the fandom still struggles to identify mystra as his abuser, is because she is a white woman who initially presents herself in a soft-spoken, benevolent manner… and well, the fact that gale himself is ambitious to a fault and a lil insane about the promise of power. he also briefly mentions "crossing mystra’s boundaries” when he confides in tav and tells them about his folly. (“i am, after all, the villain in this story.”) which led to a looooot of misinterpretations.

leaving the overall lore and mystra’s treatment of her other chosen aside — what we can discern from her interactions with gale in-game, is that mystra is civil as long as she remains in control and gale follows her demands, but as soon as there’s even a slight mention of challenging her power or defying her rule, she rather quickly changes her tone.

there is also one particular exchange between them that just won’t leave my head:

“you were many things to me, but never a threat. and never a savior."

even if we choose to blatantly ignore the fact that mystra is a deity, his goddess - there is no possible way that their relationship ever could have been equal by any mortal standards. the power imbalance that comes with her being his teacher and a symbol of his admiration, plus the sheer control she holds over him and his powers are simply too great. don’t even let me get started on how it is a common tactic of abusers to isolate their victims from any outside influences so they can exert full control over them. and how up to meeting tav and their merry band of misfits, every single soul he was close to was inevitably tied to mystra in one way or another. he briefly mentions his colleagues and then there’s elminster, also mystra’s chosen and former lover, and tara, who is a fine wizard in her own right. he spend so many years in service of her, dedicating his life to her, that now there is no one left he can truly call a friend. most of his little anecdotes and stories he tells are restricted to his childhood and university days, everything else was mystra.

evidently, ordering gale to detonate the orb is the most efficient course of action in her eyes. he is just as expendable as any other mortal, after all. maybe once significantly more useful given his status and the extent of his powers, but she doesn’t feel sorrow nor remorse for ordering him to end his life. his death is simply the most convenient means to an end.

another thing i would also like to briefly touch upon is the trigger/detonator itself. a dagger to the heart. it could have been literally anything else, a simple incantation. it is well within mystra’s power to stabilize the orb and also to remove it from his body entirely. but no, what she requires of gale is to stab himself. one might argue that it was simply a cinematic choice meant for a more dramatic effect, but it really leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. especially considering the fact that she is commonly known and referred to as a jealous goddess. it almost makes it seem like yet another form of punishment or mere pettiness. after his long period of isolation, gale is now surrounded by fellow humans. people he cares about, even perhaps people he might eventually consider good friends — which is enough of a reason for him to not want to die, to keep going and try to find another way, rather than to blindly follow mystra’s bidding. now there’s a group of people who support him and are genuinely invested in him staying alive. hmmm...

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 spoilers #baldurs gate 3 spoilers #mystra #yes again ugh #i know we have been through this so many times #also another thing i forgot to mention: #apparently there are several ending variations where gale relinquishes the crown of karsus to her #but mystra only temporarily stabilizes the orb and doesn't remove it #huh #this was a long one sorry #bg3 meta #grooming cw #abuse cw

[cakebatteronabrickwall]

One of Succession’s running themes has always been that the past is made up. You can’t go back to fact check it and everyone is an unreliable narrator when it comes to memory. In the same sense, the creatives behind this show have always given the actors a lot of freedom in how to play scenes and change them.

And I honestly respect the hell out of Jesse Armstrong, the writers and everyone else that, when asked about their take on the show, they will always say things like “I think” “In my opinion” “Personally”. Like, the literal creator of the text recognizing that there is no definitive take is so fucking cool to me. It is perfectly in line with the show’s philosophy as well.

Discussing Succession is truly like sitting in a very smart english lit class, where everyone’s opinion is well supported by the text. Everything is valid, nothing is 100% right but you can see how they got there.

For example, James Cromwell will think there is a certain hope for betterment by the end of the finale, Mark Mylod thinks it’s profoundly tragic, Jesse Armstrong thinks change isn’t possible, the next person will point at moments during the story where that exact thing is disproven-- there is no right answer.

#i will often nod along with 90% of stuff i see on here regardless of whether I personally agree #that's such a perfect way to tell a story #succession #succession season 4 #kendall roy #shiv roy #hbo succession #logan roy #roman roy

[ineffable-suffering]

Why Aziraphale is an unreliable narrator

Part 1: The Story of Job

I'm absolutely not the first one to talk about this on here and I probably shan't be the last either. Alas, here's my take on why all of the minisodes in Season 2 should be enjoyed with great care – and taken with a grain of angelic salt.

I'm gonna split this into 3 parts, aka the three minisodes we are shown, since I tend to get a bit waffley in my posts and want to still be able to include all the little details. Once I've written them, I'll link Part 2 & Part 3 here as well!

Alright, let's get into it under the cut of doom.

Episode 2 opens with the Story of Job. Right off the bat, I noticed that it sort of looks like an old film playing. At first I didn't read that much into it, but once we see the cut-away to Aziraphale at the bookshop, currently reading that part of the Bible (presumably), I immediately thought: "Oh! It's because it's his memory. He's remembering how it went down and therefore it plays like a figurative film in his head."

This, I then came to realize, is a very crucial difference to all the flashbacks of S1, which were exclusively told and narrated by God. May her intensions be as ineffable as they are: She did tell us all of these stories from an objective outsider's point of view. Now, however, it's Aziraphale who's re-telling those stories to us from memory.

And if there's one thing that's for certain, it's that a memory is something entirely different to an objective narration of a story. Just think about how you yourself remember things. Especially things that happened years, maybe even decades (or, in an angel's case, millenia) ago. What is it, that you really remember? Can you know for sure, that a conversation was held with those exact words? Are you 100% certain that the clothes someone wore weren't different? Had it really been snowing or would that make very little sense given what you're remembering happened in May? And did it even happen in May? Or does that just happen to be your favourite month, the current weather, your preferred style of clothing and what it was that you would imagine someone would have said to you?

What I'm trying to say is: The further away it is that something happened, the more your brain has to fill in the gaps. This is why, for example, your parents will remember the family summer holiday entirely different when you ask them about it 20 years later.

"No, it was Sarah who puked on the car ride home!" "Nonsense, Sarah never puked as a child. Bobby had that gone-off pizza, he's the one that was sick the whole ride long!"

We've all been there. Bobby made it out alive. Don't buy gas station pizza.

Alright, back to the plot: Naturally, Aziraphale is not actually human, so it is a pure assumption on my part that the way his memory works is similar to ours. However, the whole topic of "memory" is actually quite a recurring one on Good Omens.

Crowley seems to have lost his in the Fall, yet somehow managed to get most of it back. Not all of it, though, he clearly has some major gaps ("You used to jump on me back, little monkey in the waistcoat!"). Beelzebub helps Gabriel store all his memories in their little fly container before they get wiped entirely too, by the Metatron and/or Saraqael. Crowley and Aziraphale (and possibly Jimbriel) perform a miracle together that makes everyone in Heaven and Hell forget who Garbiel is or what he looks like. And we know that the Book of Life apparently has the ability to completely erase someone from existence – ergo also erasing them from everyone's memory and making it is as though the person had never been in them at all.

So, clearly, angels and demons being able to remember, forget, reconstruct and, if you're the Metadork, wipe memories, is very much canon. Apart from that very last one, it does make them quite human-like in a way. We too can forget or (wrongfully and incompletely) reconstruct memories, due to things like trauma, illness or simply a lot of time having passed.

So, just like Crowley remembers going into battle but doesn't remember Furfur being there, or just like Jimbriel has entierly forgotten who he is but still remembers the tune and lyrics to Buddy Holly's song Everyday, and just like archangel Michael was miraculously made to forget Gabriel and yet says "Don't I know you?" when seeing him again – just like that, Aziraphale's memories of the story of Job, the story of wee Morag and the story of the magic show in 1941, might not actually be the whole truth.

So, time to look at where the furniture isn't.

Now, it could very well be that the costume designers of S2 thought: "Fuck it, let's go crazy" – but given that this show has a track record of meticulously making sure to stick to accurate and cohesive character design, doesn't it strike you as odd that Crowley would go from this look at the Flood in Mesopotamia, 3004 BC:

... to the (very iconic, don't get me wrong) Bildad the Shuhuite drip in 2500 BC:

... back to this at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in 33 AD:

I mean ... I mean– come on, that seems like a bit of a far stretch, even for someone as enthusiastically experimental with fashion as Crowley.

And it's not just that: Where did the sunglasses come from, all of a sudden? And why do they look like some sort of obscure, ancient optometrist's device? It's a known historical fact that the Romans were the ones to have invented sunglasses, somewhere around 50-ish AD. Which actually matches perfectly with when Crowley and Aziraphale meet again in Rome 8 years after the crucifixion (51 AD).

So, where do the weird spectacles come from, over 2000 years too early? Maybe from Aziraphale's brain filling in some gaps? Hasn't Crowley always worn those ridiculous sunglasses? Was it Rome? Or Golgotha? Wessex? Oh, blimey, what does it matter!

And it's not just Crowley: Aziraphale's own clothes, as well as the other angels', seem to be very different from the rather plain linen we see him wear before and after the story of Job.

They're laced with golden embroidery along the neckline and sleeves. The remind almost of the clothes angels are depicted wearing in biblical and historical drawings. Ornate and decadent. Not at all like we see Aziraphale in the other flashbacks of S1.

Even Bildad the Shuhite's hair within the minisode keeps changing, going from all pouffy and voluminous to rather deflated and straight-looking:

The costume department either had to fix up two seperate wigs or manually straighten out the volume of the one again to give it a more sleek look. I'm not a professional in this field, but if there's anything I've learned from watching hours of behind-the-scenes material of movies and shows, it's that very little about costume, character, prop and set design is purely coincidental.

You know what it could be, though? An accurate representation of how memories aren't linear, historically correct and objective representations of a certain event, but rather an ever-changing, jumbled mess of impressions, emotions and exaggerations.

More specifically: Aziraphale's impression, emotions and exaggerations.

Like "remembering" Crowley with sunglasses because he's been wearing them for so long.

Like "remembering" himself wearing more luxurious, angelic clothes because that's how he thinks of the difference between Heaven and Hell.

Like "remembering" the permit as a ridiculously long scroll that folded out over an entire valley.

Like "remembering" Job's children to be weirdly sassy in an almost Aziraphale-esque way (Enon: "Don't be silly!") for the fact that Job would have probably taught them to be more humble and obedient in the presence of a literal angel.

Like "remembering" eating an entire fucking Ox after having just one bite of it while Crowley watched him lustfully, sipping on his wine.

Like "remembering" Crowley calling him 'angel', despite them having barely known each other back then.

There's a reason why the flashbacks in S2 seem so much more alive, quirky and, at many points, confusing and all over the place. Because they're not objective stories being told by a third party. They're Aziraphale's. So much of his own thoughts and feelings at the time get projected onto them because that's simply how memory works!

It's subjective. It's unrealiable.

It's not that I'm calling Aziraphale a liar. He's no more a liar than your parents are, mixing up Sarah and Bobby. Or you, remembering snow instead of sunshine. Memories aren't lies. They can simply be faulty, focus on things that you thought were more important and leaving out or changing things that weren't, to you.

The real challenge in all of this, is trying to filter through Aziraphale's stories to see what it actually is they're telling us. Where it is that the furniture isn't. And I think in this case, that's 6 main things (eff you, God, I know you like sevens, but I don't care):

God and Satan (still) talk to each other We see that Aziraphale is quite surprised when Muriel mentions that the whole Job thing is God's bet with Satan. But clearly, despite having made him and the rest fall, God still converses with Her number one traitor about whether or not the humans simply love Her because she gives them nice things or because they truly believe in Her.

God and Satan (and Heaven and Hell) can and do collaborate with each other when they feel like it So much for choosing sides, huh? Truthfully, this is not the first time this is shown to us, but still. It's another piece of evidence on the growing pile.

Aziraphale understands the World and humans way better than any of the other angels "Well, you see ... Citis is 58 ..."

Aziraphale, despite having troubles voicing it, absolutely disagrees and even condemns God's plan of destroying Job's children (and goats and camels and––)

Aziraphale is willing to lie and thwart the will of God Also not the first time we're being shown this but again, piiiile of evidence.

Angels don't automatically Fall simply by doing the above To me, this is one of the most important take aways. It's already hinted in S1 as well that 'Falling' seems to have been a one time even back when the first war broke out in Heaven. And I actually believe that ever since then, no other angels have Fallen again. Aziraphale is the best example for this. He has gone against God's plan numerous times and even lied to her very face (voice?) about it. And yet, nothing ever happened to him. Why exactly that is the case remains a topic for another meta (that I might or might not be working on already, teehee).

Alright, that concludes this first look at the Job minisode! If there's anything I missed, feel free to share it with me. I'll try and add Part 2 (the story of wee Morag) and Part 3 (the magic show of 1941) soon.

Update: Part 2 and Part 3 have officially been written, you can find it them right here:

Part 2: The Story of wee Morag

Part 3: The Story of the Magic Show in 1941

Hugs and kisses, (God)!

#good omens #good omens season 2 #gos2 #go2 #good omens 2 #good omens meta #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #story of job #job minisode #good omens analysis #aziraphale is a storyteller #but not a very accurate one #my own meta